Food For Thought: Rise Above Hate & Hustle, Loyalty & Respect

2018-06-01

We all have our throw away television shows that are not of the highest quality or the best caliber of performance but we love them none-the-less.

For some, it is clinging to the what feels like a billion year long relationship between Victor and Nikki on Young & The Restless while others enjoy the rather curt demeanour of Judge Judy, the abrasive bullhorn that is Steve Wilkos or who will fall in the love with the Bachelorette (Not Arie. He totally dropped the ball last season), Everyone has their show.

For me, it is the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). I have been watching wrestling since Hulk Hogan made it impossible not to watch. Once he lifted the 500 pound Andre the Giant and body slammed him in the middle of the ring at Wrestlemania III, I was hooked.

I get it, you don’t need to tell me wrestling’s downfalls and how it is not “real”. Have you ever broken down the man with the fedora and the leather jacket?

The idea that the man in the leather jacket and fedora can survive a plane crash, fall off a mountainside with only a riverboat to protect him, land in a river whit white rapids engulfing the boat, just to make his way to the depths of a lava riddled underground in India and survive, is absurd. Yet, we all know Indiana Jones can accomplish pretty well whatever he chooses to task himself with. Suspension of disbelief.

Each wrestler has their catchphrase, finishing move and moniker. It is was separates them, makes them superstars or jobbers (someone who never wins and puts over the other wrestler). I keep it on in the background while I am puttering around the house. One of the biggest superstars in the past 15 years is John Cena. The Cenation is based on his catchphrase “Hustle, Loyalty and Respect”. At first, I thought it was cheesy, weak and catered to a much younger demographic. Once I realized this and accepted it for what it was, I fell in line with it. After all, it was a good message for young kids.

Over time, I started to realize just how true it really is. Hustle iswhen you complete a goal you set for yourself and you completed that task with conviction; Loyalty, without standing true to your convictions, owning who you are, and showing up when you should, how can anyone rely on you? Standing up for what you believe in as well as those who cannot stand up for themselves for unforeseeable reasons, and catching a friend when they fall- that is loyalty. Respect,if you don’t respect yourself how can anyone respect you? Showing the community love and passion, helping those in need, helping a stranger and holding the highest regard to the seniors of the world is a valuable message to hold close to the heart.

As the wrestler evolves, he creates new catchphrases based on what is going on in the show, their life and what type of personality they wish to be seen as. Rise Above HateIs another slogan he uses. If you think about what it truly represents, it is not so much as hate has it is anger. Anger is what starts because of a situation or circumstance, hate is the long festering result.

We all have situations in our life that cause us to be hateful, spiteful and at the core of it all, hurt. The reasons may by completely valid, the anger might be very real and warranted, but will it sit inside you and create a cancer that destroys the very essence of who you are supposed to be?

I have learned a valuable lesson in rising above hate. Making the right, positive choice in a sea of negative opportunities has been my blessing because I learned that is where the lessons live. The life lessons live in the hurt, the anger and the frustration. The key is, can you see the message or does rage blind you?

The true gift is not the ease of pain, that will come with time, but it is the gift of education. Purpose is what fills the soul and the mind, it is also the added value in a terrible situation. The silver lining, can produce wisdom that transcends into the next generation. What ails us, what hurts us, what causes animosity and hatred is the very same emotional trigger that can create a deeper knowledge if wisdom, as long as you can rise above it, find the positive message, bring it home, pay it forward and be the change you want to see in yourself, your children and the community around you.

David F. Rooney Archives

The Revelstoke Current

The Revelstoke Current's first edition appeared on July 1, 2009. The online daily news site was established by Publisher-Editor David F. Rooney. Following his passing in 2017, the Revelstoke Current was reconstituted as a Not-For-Profit Society on February 15, 2018.